Cleaning your firearm is the must step before any field trip of yours. Without proper cleaning, your favorite gun might get damaged and rusty.
If you are just an amateur hunter, you might be wondering where to start the cleaning. Which brings us to the question, what is the first step in cleaning a firearm?
Today, we are on the same chapter where we will focus on the first step of your cleaning process. Let’s get you on the field as soon as possible.
What is the First Step in Cleaning a Firearm?
The answer to “What is the first step in cleaning a firearm?” is quite controversial. Because the mechanism of a firearm depends on several parts and taking care of every part is as essential as the next one.
That is why we will go through some of the basic steps and you will be able to clean your firearm perfectly according to those.
Unload the Firearm
This might not be a cleaning step but we must make sure that your firearm is unloaded and safe for you to clean. To unload, you need to remove the magazine from your firearm.
Clean Your Chamber and Barrel
There’s a certain brush in the market that is made out of nylon and copper phosphate. This type of brush is meant for dry brushing your firearm.
Grab that certain type of brush and dry brush the barrel and chamber of your firearm. This will help you to treat and get rid of some of the junky metal and carbon from the firearm’s bore.
Then, grab a cleaning patch and dip it in bore solvent. Now place that cleaning patch on the tip of your cleaning rod. You need to force it all the way and make it through the other side of the barrel.
Saturate the bore surface and the chamber. However, make sure that you don’t pull the cleaning rod backward. This can leave the specks of dirt in the bore.
Next up, grab the bore brush and scrub inside your firearm’s barrel. Use another dry patch to get rid of any leftover dirt. Also, you can use a bit of lubricant to make your firearm more presentable.
Take Care of the Action
The action means the slide, pump, and bolt of your firearm. It’s the main mechanism of your firearm which helps you to load the ammo and operate the gun.
Use a utility brush (preferably nylon), solvent to clean the action, and dry cloth to clean the firearm. Spray the solvent all over the action in such a way that will allow all the debris to drip away.
After it’s all clean, make sure that you’re giving the sub-assemblies the proper time to dry. The disposing of the residues should be done properly.
You can also use a needle application which will help you to apply precise lubricant drop at the exact place that you want.
However, always remember that excessive lubrication can create a high chance of contamination and you might even face reliability issues.
Keep the Magazines in Mind
The magazine helps you to store the ammunition and feeds your firearm the ammo when you need it.
If you own a semi-automatic firearm, you must maintain a clean magazine to receive the best performance out of it. There’s a special type of brush in the market that is made only for cleaning the magazine.
As magazines contain a spring loading system, make sure that you’re careful while working with the reassembly or disassembly of your firearm.
Treat the Exterior of the Firearm
Without a finished and polished outlook of your firearm, it won’t look much appealing. Either it’s exterior or interior cleaning of your firearm, you need both.
There’s a certain type of fabricated cloth known as the gun or reel cloth. This type of cloth is pretreated and comparatively soft.
The silicon lubricant pretreatment helps you to make it appear polished and fresh. A proper finishing can make a huge difference on that destroyer.
Conclusion
Hopefully, now you know what is the first step in cleaning a firearm. Proper cleaning is a must, before and after the usage of your firearms. However, you should take proper precautions while cleaning your gun, because without adequate safety measures it could be dangerous.
In worst-case scenarios, you could end up hurting yourself or a family member because of the troubleshooting of the gun. To avoid such accidents, you need to be aware of the proper cleaning method for your firearm.